Nonprofit, single-payer health care system needed

Reductions to entitlements, especially to Medicare and Medicaid, are unacceptable.

Raising the age limit for Medicare from 65 to 67 is particularly onerous to most Americans. Yes, the average life span for Americans has increased over time. This gain, however, has disproportionately benefited those with higher incomes. Laborers have experienced little increase in life expectancy. People who have labored faithfully over their adult lives should have earned by age 65 a secure retirement.

Raising the Medicare age limit would thus be enormously regressive and hurtful to them. At 65, the laborer has little energy to continue.

By contrast, at 65, many white-collar workers are still motivated to work, and are energized, well paid and have no desire to retire.

In truth, to reduce our medical expenditures, we must: one, institute a nonprofit, single-payer insurance system; and two, replace our fee-for-individual-service reimbursement system (which favors excessive and costly diagnostic testing and treatment) with a pay-for-performance model. That is, hospitals or physicians are paid a lump sum for treating an asthmatic or diabetic patient, for two examples.

Marc H. Lavietes, M.D.

Bradley Beach

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Nonprofit, single-payer health care system needed

Reductions to entitlements, especially to Medicare and Medicaid, are unacceptable. Raising the age limit for Medicare from 65 to 67 is particularly onerous to most Americans. Yes, the average life

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